52nd Founders Day

By Roy Ockert Jr.

Iota Theta 203

To raise funds for major renovations to the fraternity house, Lambda Chi Alpha at Arkansas State University Inc. launched a capital campaign during Iota Theta Zeta’s 52nd annual Founders Day Banquet on April 9.

The campaign was introduced with a slide series and inspirational talk by Brother Jim Stearns, Iota Theta 669. He announced that the corporation would be seeking to raise $150,000 over five years in the campaign, which is being called “High Five for Lambda Chi.”

Earlier this year the corporation’s Board of Directors solicited estimates on a number of improvements needed to bring the house up to standards worthy of Iota Theta. Already the board had approved replacement of the heating and air conditioning system, which had reached the point of requiring frequent and costly repairs. To finance that project, the corporation dipped into the Reserve Fund and took out a short-term loan.

The remaining improvements were prioritized as follows:

1. Make the house secure. Cost: $23,910. This would involve replacing the three outside entry doors and installing a card-key entry system. At present none of the doors can be locked, and we've had a growing problem with hoodlums and thieves coming in.

2. Repair the bathrooms in all residential rooms, including replacement of shower stalls. Cost: $45,575. There are six bathrooms, each serving two rooms, and two of them have leaks that caused damage to the surrounding structure and rooms below.

3. Repair and modify the vestibule entry. Cost: $7,555. This involves removing some dysfunctional windows, filling in the floor and adding a coat closet. The front door is included in No. 1.

4. Insulate the attic. Cost: $3,525. This would give us a consistent 9 inches of cellulose over 2,700 square feet.

5. Remodel the meeting hall. Cost: $53,910. This includes replacing a line of floor-level windows with insulated panels inside and outside; lowering the ceiling, which would require moving HVAC vents and lighting fixtures; remove the existing VCT floor and staining the slab.

6. Remodel the Alumni Room. Cost: $3,078. Repainting the room and replacing an outside door.

7. Miscellaneous repairs and improvements, to include remodeling the women's (guest) bathroom, securing the deck, repairing the upstairs door leading to the deck. Cost: $3,500.

If the $150,000 goal is reached, any remaining money would be retained in the corporation's Reserve Fund for major maintenance or emergency repairs.

A flyer describing the needs and planned projects, along with a pledge card, will be mailed to all Iota Theta alumni shortly. Alumni will be asked to consider a 5-year pledge, which would allow the corporation to borrow money and repay the loan separate from the mortgage.

Pledge cards were distributed to about 40 alumni attending the Founders Day Banquet, and as a result we already have more than $60,000 pledged.

The Board of Directors emphasizes that the active chapter has been meeting its financial obligations to the House Corp. and the national fraternity for more than five years since an Alumni Control Board was formed to straighten out some persistent problems plaguing the chapter for several years. During those troubled years no maintenance on the house was done, and it deteriorated.

The chapter is now living up to its obligations and once again has become the top fraternity on campus, and the board is asking alumni to step up and show its support.

Since 2004 the corporation, with the chapter paying its monthly bill and alumni pitching in, the mortgage on the house has been reduced from $346,000 to $257,676. The capital campaign will allow us to continue paying the mortgage down while restoring the house to a condition that would make us all proud.

Other photos